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BURMA RELATED NEWS - November
02, 2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - ASEAN leaders warned hands-off role puts
relevance at stake
AFP - China and Southeast Asia eye world's
largest free-trade area
AFP - Border casinos high on Thai agenda for
Cambodian PM's visit
Reuters - Bombing of Afghanistan clouds Asian
summit
Kyodo News - Japan,
Myanmar sign debt relief agreement
Kyodo News - Myanmar
dissident denounces junta for 'deceptive dialogue'
TI - Myanmar student rebel group calls for talks
Kyodo News - Koizumi
to meet with leaders of Myanmar, Laos in Brunei
The Independent - Aptech launches its operation in Yangon
Kyodo News - Koizumi
to explore areas of cooperation in ASEAN meeting
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday November 2, 4:56 PM
ASEAN leaders warned hands-off role puts relevance at stake SINGAPORE, Nov 2 (AFP) - A
group of regional think-tanks warned Friday that the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) risked sinking below the political horizon, unless its
leaders took a more active role in decision making.
They said the 10-nation forum, which holds its annual summit in Brunei next
week, was hamstrung by its policy of non-interference in the affairs of fellow
members.
Speaking at the launch of a book "Reinventing ASEAN", members of the think
tanks said ASEAN decisions were being dominated by foreign ministers.
"Leaders have to take ASEAN as their own and not just leave it to the
ministers of foreign affairs," said Jesus Estanislao, chief executive of the
Institute of Corporate Directors in the Philippines.
Although foreign ministers had influence, they are "unable to deliver
change in the name of the state," Singapore Institute of International Affairs
chairman, Simon Tay, said.
"They cannot order change in areas such as the financial sector, and so the
leaders must play a stronger role and must be more open to each other."
Speakers said ASEAN had to reassess its vision and expand integration
beyond the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) to the region's financial services and
corporate governance sectors, but foreign ministers had little clout to
orchestrate this.
ASEAN leaders had to seriously want to meet on a regular basis and "bang
their heads together" to help the region, Estanislao said.
Echoing criticisms earlier this year by the London-based International
Institute for Strategic Studies, which spoke of ASEAN's "institutional
paralysis," think-tank speakers said the policy of non-interference remained a
problem for the organisation.
Tay said ASEAN was so desperate to avoid confrontation "that the norm of
non-intervention has, often times, even led to the refusal to discuss an
issue."
While domestic politics was an obvious "no-go area", Tay said there was
room for dialogue and honesty on several other issues such as trade and the
regional haze problem.
Corporate governance, anti-poverty and anti-corruption schemes and
financial services were areas where there should be room for discussion on
regional integration to regain investor confidence, speakers said.
Hadi Soesastro, director of Indonesia's Centre for Strategic and
International Studies labelled ASEAN "narrow-minded" and accused it of catering
to the lowest common denominator, adding it was "trapped by Vision 2020,"
championed by Vietnam.
The program calls for "peace, progress and prosperity" by the year
2020.
"If ASEAN continues to be led by Vision 2020, it will continue to be at a
dead end," Hadi Soesastro said.
Chia Siow Yue, director of the Singapore-based Institute of Southeast Asian
Studies, said several leaders were beset by domestic problems and did not have
the political will to commit to ASEAN.
"If I were the Indonesian president, I would also be more concerned about
Indonesian community, Indonesian solidarity. The same goes for the Philippines,"
she said.
But they "can't solve their problems on their own, they have to cooperate
regionally."
Chia said Southeast Asia was no longer the "darling of the free world" and
had to fight "to maintain its place in the sun" and challenge the attraction of
China which was taking a growing share of Asia-bound foreign direct
investment.
But she doubted ASEAN leaders would be able to reach a consensus to build a
tight ASEAN community.
"Some of the member states see the need for change but it is the newer
members who are the most resilient," she said.
The six original ASEAN members -- Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei,
the Philippines and Singapore -- have been joined in recent years by Laos,
Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Friday November 2, 1:43 PM
China and Southeast Asia eye world's largest free-trade area AFP - China's Premier Zhu
Rongji and the leaders of Southeast Asia's 10 nations are expected to agree on
an ambitious plan to create the world's largest free-trade zone.
The decision to give the go-ahead for the ASEAN-China free trade area (FTA)
at a summit meeting here in Brunei next week "is going to be extremely
significant," a Southeast Asian foreign ministry official told AFP Friday.
"If this is realised, maybe in about 10 years, it will be the largest FTA
in the world with a combined market of nearly two billion people," he said,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will have
their annual meeting in Brunei's capital on Monday before meeting their
counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea the next day.
Most of ASEAN, comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, will already be part of a
free market by 2003 under the grouping's own liberalisation plan.
At the last ASEAN-China summit meeting held in Singapore in 2000, Premier
Zhu raised the likelihood of a ASEAN-China free trade zone as a means to
strengthen trade and investment links.
Following the proposal, ASEAN and China, the world's most populous nation,
set up an expert group to study the broader aspect of their economic relations
into the 21st century, officials said.
The expert group compiled a report which was reviewed by senior officials
of the two sides ahead of the summit.
They recommended the setting up of the ASEAN-China FTA, covering a market
of about 1.7 billion people -- comprising China's 1.2 billion population and the
500 million inhabitants of ASEAN's 10 member states, the officials said.
As of 2000, ASEAN and China have a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of
almost 1.7 trillion dollars and a total external trade value of nearly 1.3
trillion dollars.
"What is needed is for the leaders to agree," the foreign ministry official
said. "Once they agree, ASEAN and China will have to look at the scope and
modalities of the FTA and other measures to expedite, to realise this as soon as
possible," he said.
The assistant director of external relations at the Jakarta-based ASEAN
secretariat, S. Pushpanathan, said the proposed free trade plan reflected the
importance China gave to its economic links with ASEAN.
"ASEAN is the first entity that China wants to have an FTA with and this
augurs well for their economic relations, especially with China's entry into the
World Trade Organisation (WTO)," he told AFP.
Pushpanathan said if the plan went through, it would "inject confidence in
East Asia during this current global economic slowdown, help to boost trade and
investments and improve ASEAN's economic competitiveness."
Friday November 2, 1:09 PM
Border casinos high on Thai agenda for Cambodian PM's visit BANGKOK, Nov 2 (AFP) - Thai
Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the mushrooming number of border
casinos would be addressed during an upcoming visit by Cambodian Prime Minister
Hun Sen, according to a report Friday.
"Thailand is now worried about the number of casinos along the border,"
Chavalit was quoted as saying in the Nation daily.
"We understand the investors are Thais, not Cambodians," he said. "However,
we think that it is time for both countries to discuss the matter."
Chavalit said Thais were spending billions of baht in casinos mainly along
the border between Thailand and Cambodia.
In August, the National Intelligence Agency said Thais were wagering some
7.0 billion baht (156 million dollars) each year at 18 casinos strategically
situated next to busy border checkpoints.
An estimated 500,000 gamblers frequented the establishments -- 13 in
Cambodia, four in Myanmar and one in Laos, it said.
Thai government ministers have since vowed to map out measures to
discourage the mania for gambling and the resulting flow of funds outside
Thailand.
Hun Sen is due to pay an official three-day visit to Thailand from November
13-15 to follow up a trip by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to Cambodia
in June.
During his visit, the Cambodian premier will be granted royal audience with
Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Friday November 2, 6:48 PM
Bombing of Afghanistan clouds Asian summit By Simon Cameron-Moore KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - With Islam's holy month of Ramadan looming, next week's summit of 13 leaders from Asia in the Muslim sultanate of Brunei may give more evidence of fracturing support for the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), who will be joined by
China, Japan and South Korea for a two-day summit on Monday, has been toward the
rear in the rush to support Washington's cause.
"Other regional organisations have by and large come on board quickly.
ASEAN has been conspicuous by its tardiness," said Carl Thayer, a regional
expert at the Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Hawaii.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whose support for the United
States is "unwavering", said this week a declaration backing the war on
terrorism will be signed in Brunei.
But she also said member countries would qualify their support depending on
domestic conditions.
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, an inexperienced head of state
at the helm of the world's largest Muslim nation, on Thursday called for a
ceasefire in Afghanistan.
While Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a veteran who has
established his country as a model progressive Muslim nation, has warned the
bombs may worsen problems of terrorism.
Mahathir and Megawati are both well aware that admonishing Washington plays
well with public opinion at home.
But, there appears to be no acute pressure yet on either leader to lodge
firmer condemnation of the U.S. strategy.
Demonstrations in Jakarta have tailed off, and there has only been one
protest of any size in Kuala Lumpur.
Brunei is the third Muslim country in ASEAN. But this northwest corner of
the island of Borneo, with just 300,000 people, cushioned by oil wealth, is no
hotbed of activism.
ASEAN officials working over the weekend will try to find the right words
for the summit's final communique, but the strength of the statement may only
just satisfy the United States.
AFTER SHANGHAI
The ASEAN+3 summit comes just weeks after the leaders met at the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Shanghai, where Washington won
broad support for its war on terror.
Since then, concern over mounting Afghan civilian casualties has
multiplied, especially among the Muslim nations of the Malay archipelago who
have opposed the bombing campaign from the start.
"The feeling about the American bombing is strong and getting stronger,"
Mahathir told BBC Radio in an interview this week.
On Friday his Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Malaysia hoped the
United States would change tactics before the onset of the Muslim holy month,
which begins in mid-November.
"We hope it will not prolong (the bombing) into Ramadan because this is not
a conventional war. It is a manhunt for the terrorists," Syed Hamid told
reporters.
Divisions within ASEAN are another critical factor hindering more fulsome
support for the Afghan conflict.
"None of these countries, except Singapore, has been enthusiastic in the
first place," said Bruce Gale, political analyst at Control Risks in Singapore.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Some discussion is expected on moves, initiated by Mahathir and Arroyo,
already afoot to counter homegrown militancy and cross-border links between
various Muslim groups.
Separatists are fighting in Indonesia and the Philippines, while Malaysia
has arrested 16 men in the past three months in a crackdown on an
Afghan-inspired fundamentalist group.
ECONOMY FIRST
But Gale reckoned what the leaders really want to talk about is how to get
their export-oriented economies moving again.
In Brunei, they will talk about trade, the effects of the global slowdown,
the need to engage China's burgeoning economic power, and how to develop their
domestic market.
The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), which represents a potential market of
half a billion people, comes into effect next year, kicked off by the six most
economically advanced members, who have been busily bringing down their tariffs.
Spats between Malaysia and Singapore can be expected over the latter's free
trade agreements with non-ASEAN countries, which Malaysia thinks undermine AFTA.
On the plus side, ASEAN is close to sewing up a pact on trade in services,
and political instability in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand is less
evident today than a year ago.
Japan, Myanmar sign debt relief
agreement
YANGON, Nov. 2, Kyodo - Japan
on Thursday agreed to provide Myanmar debt relief of 1.8 billion yen, the
Japanese Embassy in Myanmar said Friday.
Japanese Ambassador to Myanmar Shigeru Tsumori and Myanmar Deputy Finance
Minister Brig. Gen. Than Tun signed and exchanged notes on the debt relief
Thursday evening in Yangon, according to a press release issued by the embassy.
Japan, Myanmar's largest aid donor, had extended 402.9 billion yen to
Myanmar by the time it was declared a least developed country in December 1987.
Since then, Japan has extended debt relief grants to Myanmar regularly to
relieve the burden of debt owed by the Myanmar government. The arrangement is
aimed at eventually writing off the entire debt.
Yangon and Tokyo signed the previous agreement for debt relief of nearly 2
billion yen in March.
Myanmar dissident denounces junta for
'deceptive dialogue'
BANGKOK, Nov. 1, Kyodo -
Dissident Myanmar student group the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF)
issued a statement Thursday denouncing the junta in Yangon for making use of
secret talks with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to induce the
international community to end sanctions.
''It is easy to decode that holding long-lasting secret talks between
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the (junta) is just a political
deception,'' the ABSDF said in the statement released on its 13th anniversary.
''Under these circumstances, there will still be many phases to hold an
equal and genuine political dialogue,'' the statement said.
In January, when the U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard confirmed from New York
that an initial meeting between Suu Kyi and Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, a senior member
of the junta, took place the previous October, the ABSDF praised the direct
dialogue, saying it could help solve the political deadlock in the country.
In June last year, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has sent special envoy
for Myanmar Razali Ismail to promote dialogue between the junta and Suu Kyi,
whose National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in the 1990
election.
Myanmar's generals, however, continues to refuse to cede power or allow the
new parliament to meet.
The Times of India
November 02, 2001. Myanmar student rebel group calls for talks WA YON BIN, Myanmar: A Myanmar student rebel group celebrated its 13th
anniversary Thursday with a call for Myanmar's military government to hold
political talks with all its opponents.
About 100 guerrilla members of the All Burma Students Democratic Front, or
ABSDF, attended the ceremony at their camp near the border with northern
Thailand.
Speaking to the group, its chairman, Than Hge, said the front has been
waging armed struggle because the ruling junta of Myanmar -also known as Burma -
had violently suppressed the country's pro-democracy movement.
The group was founded by student exiles who fled a violent military
takeover in 1988.
Than Hge, who became the group's fifth chairman in March this year, said
the student rebels have to join hands with ethnic rebel groups "to serve the
people of Burma."
The ABSDF has always been allied closely with one of the ethnic rebel
groups, the Karen National Union, and was actually founded at one of its
strongholds.
The KNU is the only major ethnic rebel group that did not sign a cease-fire
agreement with the ruling military after 1988, but has seen its strength
diminish radically in the past few years under government military
pressure.
Than Hge said that for long-term peace, the junta needs to hold political
talks with the National League for Democracy - the main legal opposition party
inside the country - along with the armed ethnic groups.
The leader of the NLD, 1991 Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, late
last year began closed-door talks with the junta in an effort to end the
country's political deadlock.
Concerning the talks, Than Hge said that if the juntas "has a pure heart,
it needs to allow the NLD to carry out its party activities freely and release
all political prisoners."
Myanmar's military refused to hand over power to the NLD after it
overwhelmingly won a general election in 1990. After the polls, the military
harassed and arrested hundreds of NLD members. It still holds more than 1,000
political prisoners.
Six other opposition groups sent representatives to take part in the
anniversary ceremony: the KNU and five organizations close to it, including a
women's group and one set up to help political prisoners.
( AP ) Koizumi to meet with leaders of Myanmar,
Laos in Brunei
TOKYO, Nov. 2 Kyodo - Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi is scheduled to hold separate talks with leaders of
Myanmar and Laos on Monday on the sidelines of the meeting of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its three Northeast Asian partners in
Brunei, a Japanese official said Friday. (20 :07)
The Independent
(Bangladesh)
November 02, 2001.
Aptech launches its operation in Yangon
by Economic Reporter
Aptech Worldwide, the global IT training and education major, launched its
operation in Yangon, Myanmar, the 45th country, through a special ceremony held
at International Business Centre, Yangon recently.
The chief guest of the ceremony was U Hlaing Win, Deputy Minister, Ministry
of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement. Avinash C Pandey, First Secretary,
Embassy of India in Myanmar, also present on the occasion.
Aptech Worldwide Bangladesh Limited, Dhaka, will control Aptech’s
operations in Myanmar and Pakistan.
Inaugurating the ceremony, Tin Win Aung, Group Managing Director of MCC
Group of Companies and the master business partner, said: "India, Bangladesh and
Myanmar have many synergies that brought these countries together. Aptech’s
Programmes will enable students of Myanmar to learn IT in the Aptech way.
Through the India Window Programme in India and the eACCP-2003 curriculum which
would be offered in Myanmar, Aptech has taken up the responsible position of a
modern day Gurukul with a strong determination to train participants in the
latest technology and prepare them to compete in the fast paced world of
IT."
Speaking on the occasion, Amitava Ghosh, Managing Director, Aptech
Worldwide, Bangladesh, said: "It gives me immense pride to be associated with
Myanmar, a country rich in culture and literature and today on the road to be an
IT power to reckon with. Students of Myanmar will definitely be able to imbibe
the best in information technology through Aptech’s IWP (India Window
Programme), a modem day Gurukul."
Koizumi to explore areas of cooperation
in ASEAN meeting
TOKYO, Nov. 2, Kyodo - Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday he plans to explore areas of cooperation
with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China and
South Korea when he meets them in Brunei next week.
''This is a region that has impact not only on regional developments, but
bilateral relations and the whole world,'' the premier told reporters at his
official residence.
''There are many areas of cooperation. I hope to exchange views with the
leaders of the countries...on the points where we can cooperate,'' he said.
Koizumi will hold separate talks Monday with Myanmar's junta leader Senior
Gen. Than Shwe and Laotian Prime Minister Bounnyang Vorachit on the sidelines of
the meeting of ASEAN and its three Northeast Asian partners, Japanese officials
said Friday.
The premier will also pay a courtesy call on Brunei's King Hassanal Bolkiah
the same day, according to the officials.
The three meetings are additions to the premier's schedule for his
three-day visit to Brunei, starting Sunday, which was announced earlier in the
week. It will be the first time for Koizumi to hold talks with the leaders of
the three Southeast Asian countries.
During his stay in Brunei, Koizumi will attend a working lunch of the
leaders of the 10-member ASEAN plus Japan, China and South Korea prior to a
full-fledged conference on Monday afternoon, where the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks on the United States is expected to be a topic.
Asked about opposition against the U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in
ASEAN countries which have large Muslim populations, Koizumi said, ''Countries
that have Muslim populations share difficult situations.''
''But even then, there is an agreement to fight with terrorism in a firm
manner, isn't there? I think we have an understanding about each other's
circumstances,'' he said.
The prime minister is also scheduled to hold a breakfast meeting Monday
with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, the
third such trilateral summit on the sidelines of the annual ASEAN-plus-three
talks.
Koizumi will also meet with the 10 Southeast Asian leaders under the
ASEAN-plus-one framework before departing for Japan on Tuesday afternoon. The
ASEAN leaders are to hold talks with the leaders of each of its three partners
that day.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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